The children and media research community has been buzzing with frustration at the viral circulation of Cris Rowan's Huffington Post column, "10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12." The piece pretty well defines "hack-ademic" writing, in which an author throws lots of learned-sounding terms and citations at a lay reader, while obscuring misinterpretations and fuzzy logic. Here are 10 reasons why Rowan's column is flawed.

"Sixty seconds seems like an insignificant amount of time, but when you look at it in terms of how much data is created, there’s a whole lot going on. Almost two years ago, we created an infographic to highlight just how much digital data was generated every minute. The numbers were staggering. Recently, we decided …"

Check out this new infographic (published April 23, 2014) and learn what happens in one minute online. You can also see an infographic from a year ago (link in the post) and consider having students compare and contrast the two to find out what has changed.

"In the mobile-first 21st century, apps have become one of the most important elements of any product or brand. But as the users of millions of crappy apps can attest, designing a good one is tricky. So what separates a great app from shovelware?

After receiving hundreds of submissions for this year's 2016 Innovation by Design Awards, our jury selected the apps that landed on that magic formula. Check out this year's 33 finalists, and two winners, below."

A list of apps to help with various aspects of work, school, life, and health. Some of my favorite apps to explore for further use/inspiration include: Detour San Francisco, Goals in Google Calendar, Moodnotes, and Tribe.

Turtle projects are infrastructure projects that improve bandwidth in schools, the Open University, Janet & SuperJanet, Wikipedia, Khan Academy, YouTube, MOOCs. Moodle… I could go on all day. None of these initiatives are device-focused. They focus on cognitive ergonomics not consumer electronics. Lesson here – stop the largely wasted research on device-based projects, the endless stream of apps and do not keep on taking (and buying) the tablets. Think about learning and learners not devices.

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For many children around the world today there are no artificial boundaries between being ‘offline’ and ‘online’. The environments that children find themselves in are increasingly digital, as much of their socializing, learning, civic engagement and entertainment happens online. In many countries, children and young people are among the greatest users of this technology. Even in countries where overall internet penetration is low, it is much higher among the 15-24 age group.

Nowadays, many educators use the same methods over and over again in their lessons for students to express themselves and demonstrate their new knowledge. Today’s students want to express themselves in a variety of different ways. They want their academic work to be relevant, engaging and fun.

Below is a diverse list adapted from resources found at fortheteachers.org of potential student products or activities learners can use to demonstrate their mastery of lesson content. The list also offers several digital tools for students to consider using in a technology-enriched learning environment.

The OECD has recently published a report entitled "Students, Computers and Learning: Making the connection"(http://www.oecd.org/publications/students-computers-and-learning-9789264239555-en.htm). This report has caused quite a stir - both in popular media and in professional and academic circles. But what does it actually say? What are the conclusions we should draw from it? What are the consequences and implications we should expect?

The OECD has recently published a report entitled "Students, Computers and Learning: Making the connection"(http://www.oecd.org/publications/students-computers-and-learning-9789264239555-en.htm). This report has caused quite a stir - both in popular media and in professional and academic circles. But what does it actually say? What are the conclusions we should draw from it? What are the consequences and implications we should expect?

With so much information readily available in a range of multimodal formats, from text to multimedia, apps and social networking, we need to blend technological learning and critical literacy together so that students can critically appraise the information that they are accessing. Teaching digital literacy is something that can be embedded into regular teaching in all subjects at all stages of education. To do that, it needs to be explicitly taught and reinforced by every teacher in every subject in a way that is appropriate for students.

A terrific article that explores why digital literacy skills are so essential. Not just device proficiency! Not just effective search skills! Our students need to think critically about what they view - this requires explicit teaching.

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